Who says only large businesses have the resources to be customer companies? Fireclay Tile, which produces sustainably made custom ceramic and glass tiles, is refocusing their business from selling through distributors to marketing directly to consumers. By leveraging the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, Fireclay has found a way to provide a rich customer experience and out-maneuver larger tile companies and mammoth flooring manufacturers. According to CEO Eric Edelson: “For a manufacturer to hide behind retailers and wholesalers is a huge miss. This is a big opportunity for us — we can do it really well with Salesforce.”

So well, in fact, that Fireclay has achieved Net Promoter Scores (NPS) that are off the charts. On a scale where +50 is considered excellent, Fireclay has scored an NPS of +89 – a measure of how an overwhelming number of its customers would recommend Fireclay to a friend or colleague.

Fireclay initially tapped Salesforce to become their order management system and manage customer profiles, so their sales, service, and production teams could see complete customer views as soon as leads came in from the web. Edelson says, "It's no longer enough to sell to customers. We need to think about the end-to-end relationship so we can build meaningful and lasting relationships with them." By adding cloud-based email marketing and other tools, the company increased leads by 400%. Next, Fireclay streamlined fulfillment and communications with cloud apps that manage processes like production and product sample distribution. Salesforce also provides a robust back end for Fireclay so the company has detailed pipeline and reporting information, and can forecast more accurately.

Since they started using Salesforce, Fireclay’s business has more than tripled. Wanting to build on that success Edelson decided it was time to start marketing and selling directly to consumers. “We realized that we have such a great back end system with Salesforce that we could sell better ourselves,” he explains.

Fireclay uses Salesforce Pardot for lead nurturing and scoring to attract new customers. An updated, more consumer-focused web site features a gallery of projects designed to provide inspiration by room or product. Custom apps, built on the Salesforce Platform, manage the ordering process and help provide a winning customer experience. “It’s fast and easy for us to build apps ourselves,” says Edelson. “We’re always trying to push the customization envelope.”

A custom shopping cart is integrated with Salesforce to automatically maintain a record of every purchase. And an accounting and payment system, also built on the Salesforce Platform, generates a personalized landing page where customers can view orders and pay. “Our competitors require customers to give their credit card numbers over the phone,” says Edelson. “We can take payment options on our Salesforce page. And, as orders go thru our process we ping customers with different stages of their custom order, making the experience real time. Salesforce helps us take advantage of every opportunity to build a closer relationship.”